Back to Legume Species
|
Back to Legume Species |
|
Plant Species
From Montana
Interagency Plant Materials Handbook *
By S. Smoliak,
R.L. Ditterline, J.D. Scheetz, L.K. Holzworth, J.R. Sims, L.E. Wiesner, D.E.
Baldridge, and G.L. Tibke
Lentil is another "Old World" food-legume crop which is thought to have originated in, or was first domesticated in, the eastern Mediterranean countries. A few acres of lentils have been grown only occasionally and sporadically from eastern to western Montana during the past 20 years. However, in recent years a few hundred to a few thousand acres have been grown in the Kalispell area, mostly in rotation with barley. Also, they have been successfully grown at most Montana Agricultural Experiment Station Research Centers in experimental field plots during the past five to 10 years. Lentil production potential in Montana includes production for the consumer market, the export market, for certified seed and for growth as a green manure in rotation with small grains.
Description
Lentil is a cool-season, annual legume with a growth habit which is weakly upright to semiviny. The plant has pinnately compound leaves and an overall resemblance to vetch. The indeterminate flowers are white, lilac or pale blue. The seeds are thin and lens-shaped, generally smaller than pea seed and vary in color from yellow to black. Most edible varieties have either yellow or red seed. The variety Indian Head, recently developed in Saskatchewan specifically as a green manure crop, has black seed which allows it to be separate from consumer market varieties. Lentil generally has a high test weight, about 60 lbs/bu, with a pound of seed containing from 6,000 to 12,000 seeds.
Adaptation
Lentil has good frost tolerance and is well adapted to the cool, medium-to-high rainfall areas of Montana. In addition, the variety Indian Head, developed in Saskatchewan for use as a dryland green manure crop in cereal-legume rotations, should be adaptable to most areas in the Great Plains region of Montana where dryland wheat and barley production has been successful. Lentil should be seeded as early in the spring as one can successfully use machinery in the field; similar to seeding dates used for spring wheat and barley. Lentil is best adapted to well-drained, medium-textured soils that have a pH in the range of 6.5 to 8.0 (neutral to slightly basic). Fields that are waterlogged during the growing season, that have soil pH below 5.5 or that are known to be infested with a weed, insect or disease problem should be avoided. Also, from the point of stand establishment, soils prone to surface crusting and rocky soils should be avoided for edible lentil production. Due to the somewhat viny nature of lentil, rocky soils cause serious problems for harvesting seed. Lentil production for green manure purposes, however, should be successful on such soils.
* The Montana
Interagency Plant Materials Handbook (EB69)
is no longer in print, but is available for viewing in
Montana County Extension Service and National Resource Conservation Service
Offices.